Fennel and Celery Salad

I bought my very first bulb of fennel recently.  I had big plans for it, but I could never find the other ingredients needed for what was admittedly a very strange recipe.  So, there it sat in my refrigerator, this giant bulb of fennel which I had never cooked with and had no plans for.  Then one night I needed a vegetable side for a pasta dish (coming up next!), and I spied the lonely sad bulb.  A quick search on Pinterest led me to this fennel and celery salad, and this the fennel was saved from a sure rotting death in the back of the fridge.

It couldn't be easier to make this salad: thinly slice celery and fennel (I used my mandoline to get them ultra thin) and dress them with parsley, olive oil and lemon juice, with pine nuts and shaved parmesan.  I actually left out the cheese and pine nuts because I didn't have either one on hand, but I look forward to trying it with those next  time!  Even without them, the salad was really good!  The fennel is slightly sweet (almost a faint taste of licorice) but the lemon cuts it nicely.  It's fresh and bright and crunchy and so much more exciting than anything with lettuce, which is the world's most boring vegetable and the reason I hate most salads.  By the way - the lack of lettuce means this salad can actually stay good for a few days!

Don't be scared of fennel!  Don't ignore it at the grocery store and don't let it hide in the back of your vegetable bin.  Let it star in a salad and you won't regret giving it a chance.

Recipe:

fennel and celery salad
from Platings and Pairings
serves 4

Ingredients:
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 large fennel bulb, sliced very thin
6 celery stalks, sliced very thin
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons good quality olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 ounces shaved parmesan

Instructions:

1) Toss fennel, celery, pine nuts, and parsley with lemon juice and olive oil.

2) Season with salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle with shaved parmesan.

Mocha Crinkle Cookies

Snow day!!!!  Yes, it's late March, and yes, it's officially spring, but I will never say no to a snow day.  We got about 6 inches but a lot of it is already melting out there in the sun, so it just means more time to snuggle with the pups and blog about really good cookies that were kind of a pain to make.

I love making crinkle cookies because they come out looking so pretty, never mind how good they taste.  I have made chocolate crinkles countless times, but on this day, Kenzie sent me a pin with these mocha crinkles and I decided to give it a try.  After all, for some reason I have 2 jars of instant espresso powder so I am more than happy to use up a tablespoon!  Besides the espresso powder, these cookies are flavored with cocoa powder, brown sugar and vanilla.  They taste absolutely delicious and look adorable.  But I wasn't kidding that they were kind of a pain.  The dough needs to be mixed by hand and it's very crumbly; then the crumbly dough has to be rolled into balls, and they have to be rolled in sugar, all while your hands are coated in brown dough.  It makes for a pretty messy job for cookies!

Luckily, they were worth it, and they were devoured quickly.  I was a hot mess while I was making them, but I quickly became the most popular person at my mother's when I served these hot out of the oven!  If you decide to try them, I advise doubling.  It made barely a dozen cookies, which, for all the work they took and how good they were, were really not enough.

Recipe:

mocha crinkle cookies
from Cake Whiz
makes about 12 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg white

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  In a mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder espresso powder, salt and baking soda.  Sift all ingredients and set aside.

2) In another mixing bowl, add butter, brown sugar, 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, egg white and vanilla.  Mix until you have a rough, chunky mixture.

3) Add the dry ingredients into the wet.  Mix until you have a crumbly mixture.  Knead with your hands into a ball of dough.  If the dough is still too dry and crumbly, add milk or water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and knead again.

4) Take little portions of the dough and roll into balls.  Roll them in a plate with the 1 cup granulated sugar.  Place on prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until the sides are slightly crispy.  Let cookies cool on tray.  Store in an airtight plastic container.

Crockpot Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

Sorry for the lack of posts!  I feel so crazy busy lately.  I think I forgot what it was like to balance life, work and classes since I took a 3-month break from my coursework, but now I'm back in and any spare minute here at home, I am reading a terribly dry textbook or writing really boring papers (this is my least favorite class).  Oh and there's the added time-sucker of this tiny face:

I now own a three-dog wolf pack :) And with a 3-month-old puppy, a 3-year-old scrruffball, and a geriatric hound dog, we're busy!

But, I'm never too busy for delicious food!  This recipe was for a few weeks ago when the fifth grade team put on breakfast for the school.  Each grade only does it once a year, but these 3 days are like Christmas.  We have noticed over the years that people really go for the hot dishes at these breakfasts;  you can make a gorgeous muffin or banana bread, but people just want a quiche and a casserole!  So I was trying to find something that was hot, vegetarian, and preferably in the slow cooker so it can cook overnight and be easy to transport to school.

One of my personal favorite dishes at these breakfasts is cheesy hash brown casserole; someone makes it for every breakfast and I always take seconds!  I wanted to make it, but worried about how to carry big dishes of it to work and keep it work on my commute.  Voila: enter crockpot cheesy hash brown casserole!  Sauce some onions in butter, then throw everything into the crockpot at night, turn it on, and wake up to this deliciousness.  Every last shred of potato was scraped up and eaten before lunchtime, and I doubled the recipe, so I guess we can assume it was a good one!  If I had to be picky, I would say that I still love the baked casserole a tiny bit more, but this is an excellent alternative when that is not a possibility.  I think I miss the crunchy bits.  I decided to throw some crushed corn flakes on top before I left for work to add a little more texture, and that made me feel better :)

I think next week is our next Friday breakfast... let's hope someone makes hash brown casserole, baked or slow cooked!

Recipe:

crockpot cheesy hash brown casserole
from Family Fresh Meals 
serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:
2 20-ounce bags hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups sour cream
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
1 tablespoon all-purpose seasoning (i.e. Mrs. Dash)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced onions
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

1) Over medium-high heat, saute onions in butter until translucent and soft, about 3 -5 minutes.

2) In a large mixing bowl, mix together hash brown potatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, seasoning, salt and soup.  Stir until well combined.

3) Spray crockpot with cooking spray and place mixture inside.  Cook on low 5 - 6 hours.

Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Herbed Chickpeas

This is one of those weeks when I just feel overwhelmed with all the stuff I normally juggle pretty simply.  Today I went straight home after work (after getting the dogs of course) and took a nap (not like me!) and I feel a little better.  I have laundry to do and a dishwasher to empty and homework to do and bills to pay (oy), but to make life feel normal, first, I need to share some wonderful stuffed portobellos.  In fact, I consider this the ultimate comfort food, so if you wanted to really help me de-stress today, you'd show up with these beauties!

Besides being pretty, these stuffed mushrooms were so, so good.  I happily brought the leftovers to work until they were gone.  The filling was super filling with mashed chickpeas, carrots, red onion, scallions, and cashews.  It's flavored with garlic powder, smoked paprika, Italian herbs, and tahini.  They're also way quicker than you would expect, because the filling doesn't have to be pre-cooked.  Mix the filling up, stuff the mushrooms, and bake.  Voila: dinner.  Serve them with something green (don't serve them with years-old peas like I did... apparently even frozen peas have their limits) and you won;t be hungry for hours.  I even got carnivores to admit that these were delicious!

Recipe:

portobello mushrooms stuffed with herbed chickpeas
from Vegan Richa (I think I got the recipe from a book and I can't find which one... but this is the same recipe I used)
serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup small chopped carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 - 4 scallions, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian herb blend (thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, marjoram)
2 tablespoons tahini
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup raw cashew halves
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
4 - 6 portobello mushrooms, stems removed
1 tomato, sliced

Instructions:

1) Wash and scrub the mushrooms.  Pat dry.  Brush olive oil all over and place with tops down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) In a bowl, add chickpeas and mash well.  Add all ingredients up to black pepper and mix well.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  When ready to stuff, add the cashews, bread crumbs, and oil, and mix well.  Add a few teaspoons of water if the mixture feels too crumbly.  Stuff mushrooms and top with tomato slices.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until mushrooms are well done and stuffing is golden.

Spinach, Mozzarella and Feta Egg Bake

I love weekends.  I love sleeping late (well, laying Daisy out early, but then going back to bed), drinking coffee on the couch, catching up on homework and my recorded TV shows.  And I love making breakfast.  In the past 2 or 3 months, I have started making myself a nice breakfast every weekend morning.  Usually it's just a fried egg sandwich, but other times it's something like this egg bake.  One major benefit of something like this is that I can't eat the whole thing in a day - or even a weekend - so I can bring some of the leftovers to work to eat before school starts.  I don't eat lunch until 12:30 or 1:00, so when I leave my house at 7:30, I need to plan ahead, or it's a looooong morning!

I actually played around with this recipe a little bit.  I know, not like me at all! I cut it in half, first of all, because it's just me, and it would take me about a week to eat an egg bake with 8 eggs!  Plus, I only happened to have 4 eggs left.  Second, I added feta, because, well, cheese.  I had some, and feta and spinach go together like peanut butter and jelly.  I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder rather than the Spike seasoning mix it called for, but I think that next time, I would use a clove of minced garlic sautéed with the spinach instead.  I left out scallions only because I didn't have any, but I'd try them if you've got them. Lastly, I added milk to fluff the eggs up a little. I will adjust the recipe to show all this.  Feel free to go to the original recipe or try out my little changes; either way, you'll be happy when you have breakfast ready to go!

Recipe:

spinach, mozzarella and feta egg bake
adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen
makes 3 - 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup feta
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8 1/2 x 12" casserole dish with nonstick spray.

2) Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the spinach and garlic.  Stir just until the spinach is wilted and garlic is softened, about 2 -3 minutes.  Transfer spinach and garlic to casserole dish, spreading it all around so the bottom of the dish is covered.  Layer cheeses and scallions on top.

3) Beat the eggs with the milk. Pour the egg mixture over the spinach/cheese combination.  Use a fork to gently stir so the eggs, spinach and cheeses are evenly combined.

4) Bake about 20-25 minutes or until the mixture is completely set and starting to brown lightly.  Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

Veggie Stir Fry

There's something about ordering Chinese takeout that makes me feel like an adult.  I have no idea why; maybe it's watching movies or TV shows where people eat out of takeout containers in their NYC apartments or something?  Obviously I don't live in an apartment or in New York, and I never eat out of the containers, with forks or chopsticks, but still, the feeling remains.  We got Chinese food for Valentine's Day and were super happy with everything, but we felt like the steamed veggies I picked were lacking.  Great sauce, but it was just a few vegetables.  With so many options out there, why stick with bamboo shoots and broccoli?  And why not more mini corns?  The mini corns have been my favorites since I was a kid!

Enter the Pioneer Woman, who is just amazing whether she's making meat dishes like lasagna or something vegetarian like this; she has never steered me wrong.  This was a great recipe; the sauce comes out flavorful, thick and awesome, coating all the veggies and soaking into the rice I served it on.  It's made with soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, sriracha, and fresh ginger, and thickened with cornstarch.  The recipe calls for onion, red and yellow peppers, zucchini, baby corn (!!!!!), and broccoli.  I threw in some snow peas because, what's a Chinese stir fry without snow peas?  Besides being delicious and healthy, it was really quick.  I think it was ready before the rice was cooked!  Definitely a great stir fry.

It turned into a meal that's far better than takeout.  And even more adult, since I made it.  In a wok.  Adults use woks.

Recipe:

veggie stir fry
from The Pioneer Woman
serves 8

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons Sriracha (more or less to taste; I used more like 1)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 tablespoons peanut oil (I used vegetable)
1 whole yellow onion, cut into large chunks
1 whole red pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks
1 whole yellow pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 whole medium zucchini, cut into large wedges
1 15-ounce can baby corn, drained and halved crosswise
1 head broccoli cut into florets
cooked noodles or rice for serving
sesame seeds for serving

Instructions:

1) In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, Sriracha, and ginger.  Set aside.

2) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and peppers and stir, cooking for 2 -3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more, stirring continuously.  Add the zucchini and stir it around, cooking it for 2 minutes more.  Add the baby corn and broccoli and cook for a couple of minutes.  While the veggies are still firm, pour in the sauce.

3) Stir the veggies in the sauce, cooking for 1 - 2 minutes more, or until the sauce is very thick.  If it needs to be a little saucier, pour in 1/4 - 1/2 cup hot water and splash in a little more soy sauce.  Serve over noodles or rice with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.